Excellent attitude!!!! As long as he keeps this in mind he won't have any problems. Looks like you've done good pop.

 

I'm not a Marine, but grew up surrounded by them. (In a good way)!

His desire to join the strongest brotherhood in the world is noble, gallant and brave. I am honored to share my country with young men like him!

As his father it has got to be bittersweet to know his decision can affect him and your family for the rest of your lives.

God bless him, no matter what his decision. When he finallly makes it final, it will be the right choice.

 

I like that "If other's have done it, so can I" ... that's what gets us through the hard stuff.

Keep us posted ...

Cheers,
PISTOL

 

I've been in the Marines for 6 years now and have loved almost every minute of it,lol. Especially now in this economy it's a good feeling having steady pay and benefits. Being a part of the Marine family is always great too. Any time you run into trouble or problems your command will always jump to assist you in any way. I wouldn't trade this lifestyle for anything right now and am glad I gave up a full ride scholarship to college for it. Make your decision and never look back.

 

I origonally joined the marines right out of high school and ended up with a PoS reqruiter who hand jammed everything I wanted into my contract. After showing up to paris Island and finding out my contract was a crock of Edit a verry helpful Marine DI steered me in the right direction. While I have lots of freinds who have had great experiences I didn't. I joined with the sole intention of going straight from basic in to force recon and found out I could not. I was out processed on the basis of a fraudulant contract and jioned the Army the next day with a R.I.P contract. (Ranger Indoctrination Program) and was assigned to 1st Ranger Battalion. Since with this unit I've deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan 10 times. Because the Rangers fall under SOCOM (Special Operations Command) we are on a higher mission tempo with shorter Deployment times usally between 90-120 day incountry with 6-7 months of down time and train up state side. We are also authorized many specailty pays that many units are not allowed paying up to an additional $1000 a month above and beyond. While I could talk your ear off about the Rangers it should be noted that your son should sit down with you and talk about his plans. Just joining the military is honorable but you want to make sure it's enjoyable. What does he want to do? Does he want to do 20 years? or just a tour and get out? Once he has decided that he then should look at what jobs he qualifies for. If he wants to be a lifer pick a job he will enjoy, if he just wants to do a tour for education reason choise a job that will give you experience in the job field you want to work as a civilian. DO NOT let the reqruiter wrap him up with all the bonuses and blind him. Take the shortest contract for the job he choises this way if he doesnt like military life he can get out with out doing 6 years. Also note that any contract your son signs is an 8 year contract. the way service contracts work is you sign up and commit to a particular number of years activly served and the additional years left of the 8 will be served inactivly. all this means is after his first commitment is up they can call him back in if needed up untill the 8 year mark. Also not to take anything awayfrom the Marines but he needs to take a long look at all the services and see which one fits him best, While everyone likes to think their branch is the best, they all fight for the same reason.
I hope this helps you and your family and thank him for taking the steps to serve a cause greater than himself.
Also for everyone else I currently work at West Point as the Training NCO, if you have any questions on how to get in to this academy or loop holes for the other two service academies (Navy/AF) please ask and i'll do my best to answer.

-RLTW!-

please do not subsitute symbols for profanity, as per our forum rules.

 

That's some good gouge right there !!

Hoo-Ya NHRANGERJOE !!

Cheers,
PISTOL